Don't go to the airplane lav in socks and other travel tips

Tue, 2011-07-19 20:44

I thought that tip in this post's heading would go without saying, but I guess not, since it's one of the tips outlined in this CNN article on business traveler tips. But it did get me to thinking about feet and planes, and all the conundrums the mixture of the two can bring up. Such as:

1. Sandals in the security line—easy to slip on and off, but who wants to walk around barefoot on those floors?

2. If you do wear sandals on the plane, is it weird to bring socks to wear during the flight? And is it weirder to take the socks off and put your sandals back on before visiting the lav, or should you go for the geek socks-and-sandals look?

3. How far can a small child put their feet up in between the crack of the seat and seatback? From personal experience, about to the small of my back, but I'm betting there are even more agile kids out there.

4. What, if anything, do you do if your seatmate takes off his shoes for the flight and has awful foot odor? If it's their shoes that stink, and you have an empty seat between you, is it okay to protest if they put their shoes under the empty seat that's that much closer to you (and your gag reflex)?

5. If your seatmate takes off his shoes for the flight and puts them in the overhead bin, do you warn him that he'll want to retrieve them to go to the lav and they'll likely fall on his head when he opens the bin?

6. If a small child takes to drumming her feet on your seat back and the parent refuses to do anything about it, is it okay

to pop up over the back of the seat and make a really scary face in hopes of shocking said kid into paralysis?

7. Who owns the space under your seat when it comes to feet? I had a guy sitting behind me on a recent flight whose feet came all the way out in front of my seat who got really angry when I accidentally bumped his foot, which I could see when I looked down. He seemed really irrational and probably drunk, so I let it go and just sat on my feet to keep them out of his way, but I do think he was encroaching on my space, not vice versa.

Yes, these are things that great minds spend time thinking about when they've spent a few too many hours in the air...